Eh?
Their complaint is that OTHER websites infringe on their slogan? Also, they don't seem to be bothered about the fact that this product is clearly NOT REAL!
I love lawyers, they make the rest of society feel better about themselves.
The wags down at ThinkGeek have found themselves on the receiving end of the "best-ever cease and desist letter", after seriously treading on the National Pork Board's trotters. ThinkGeek's canned unicorn meat ThinkGeek's offence was committed in the marketing of its quite remarkable Canned Unicorn Meat, a truly magical …
Long pig is "the other white meat". Or what Hillary Briss the butcher in League of Gentlemen calls "the special stuff".
Although there are strong claims for cat (aka "roof rabbit" for the Dutch during WWII occupation) as "the other white meat". But finger food that's really fingers has definitely got the prior claim.
This is a common place where people get confused.
In the US, parody is specifically protected under copyright law. However, trademark law is a very, very different matter. Trademark and copyright are not related to each other (trademark is actually a subset of patent law).
Here in the States, there is absolutely no protection from trademark infringement for parody. Furthermore, owners of trademark have no choice about pursuing infringement. Under US trademark law, if I own a trademark and I DON'T pursue someone who infringes it--even if the infringement is trivial or silly--I lose my trademark.
Companies don't like going after this sort of thing. It's a waste of money, time, and resources, and it subjects them to ridicule from people who don't understand trademark law. But they have to. If they don't, they lose their trademark. Stupid as it is, that's the way the law is written.
A 12 page C&D for something like this is obviously not necessary. You can scope it down to a page and still be "protecting" your trademark, and without the death of a couple of trees in the process as they 1) faxed it and 2) printed it out and sent it certified mail.
Just some more excess trimmings from the NPB.
Dear ThinkGeek,
Stop it. Just stop it right now. Unicorn meat my arse!
Fuck with our trademark slogans and we'll 'open a can of
WHOOPASS' (tm) Stonecold Steve Austin (threat used under license courtesy of the WWE)
Go out and get some sun.
Fuckin stoners......
Regards,
The Pork Board
There, now about my fee.......
I'm amazed the confederated chicken and turkey producers association haven't sued: Pork is white meat, in the same way Bill Bailey is a vegetarian.
"I'm a vegetarian. I'm not strict; I eat fish, and duck. Well, they're nearly fish, aren't they? They're semi-submerged a lot of the time, they spend a lot of time in the water, they're virtually fish, really. And pigs, cows, sheep, anything that lives near water, I'm not strict."
So Bacon is ironic white meat and Chops are post modern drumsticks.
Why are the pork board trying to sell their product as something that it isn't, rather than focusing on it's strengths?
Pigs: they're porkilicious!
Job done. Yet, no doubt some marketeer got paid a bundle to lie to the public (which is what they're expert at; whilst not ripping off each other's ideas). Mafia polar bear pushing birdseye... not in any way related to the Mafia panda recommending fox's biscuits? Although in the later case an actual fox would be more imposing: "buy these biscuits or your kids might have a nasty accident; capische?
I love apologies that are more of a bitch slap than an actual apology, but can never actually be proven to not be an apology !!
I also thought that the potential trade mark was "The other white meat" and not "The new white meat"?
And on April 1st too !!!
Come on... seriously... trade mark protection ??? Seriously ???
A few years back, when the movie March of the Penguins movie came out, I did some t-shirts for Cafe-Press that said "Penguins, the other white meat" it took them (Pork Council) about 72 hours to contact me with a cease and desist...or else.
I guess if you get "The other white meat" tattooed on your butt, they would literally own your ass.